You Are My Sunflower
by Panda301
Summary: Ancient China had been captured by Mongolia. But then she ran away and found Russia, in hopes of putting what she had experienced behind her. I SUCK AT SUMMARIES. Ancient China and Russia. Ancient China is my OC, and no, she is not China...well, not exactly. Rated M because I'm paranoid and future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia, or any of its characters.**

Running. That was all she could do. For a whole week, just nonstop. Sure, she was a country with special powers, but so was Mongolia. Her normally long, silky black hair was now matted with blood. Her own blood. As she ran on, through the evergreen forests of Mongolia, she felt the scab on her back crack slightly, threatening to reopen her wound. Some smaller, more recent cuts had also started to bleed. An arrowshaft had lodged itself in her arm at some point. On top of that, it was getting cold, and her once beautiful dress was torn and covered in blood. The cold was a signal, too: it meant that she was getting close.

Still she ran, endlessly until the trees faded away and gave way to a white, snowy plain. Fighting to stay on top of the snow, she fell, staining the tiniest bit of snow red. But she got up and ran on. She was ahead, she could see her destination, marked by a sign:

_**Welcome to Russia.**_

She flew past the border, and headed along a small path through the forest that seemed to suddenly decided to spring up in front of her. The path became wider, and there was a yellow glow up ahead...

Sunflowers. Thousands of them, covering the ground as far as the eye could see. How they managed to bloom such a bright yellow in the harsh Russian winter was beyond her; all she could think of was that she was so close. The house ahead of her, she knew, would protect her, that is, if it was empty. The owner was probably not there, at least she hoped. That would be disastrous, as all of this running would only end in a painful death, probably by getting her brains spattered on a wall by a bloody pipe. But, she decided not to think about this for now, and she ran faster, stepping on and crushing sunflowers here and there.

As she stumbled upon the porch, she could see torches lighting up the sign behind her, even though it was more than a mile away. Hurrying now, she took a twig on the wooden planks and picked the lock. She was in. The security really needed to be upgraded, she thought, until she realized that she was in a sort of metal holding cell, with no apparent way to get out. There was a camera in one of the corners. She sensed its electronic humming with her extra sensitive ears. She would have to wait here and hope that Mongolia didn't look into this house, even though he probably would, resulting in her death. She sat down and started to cry... This was the end of her five thousand year old life, and she could only pray for her little brothers, hope that somehow god would save all of them. Because she knew that when she died, they would feel it too. Letting herself start to slip into unconsciousness, she prayed, and braced herself for what she knew was going to be the end of her...

Which never came.

A hidden sliding door opened, and a man stepped out. He had silver hair, a big nose, and an imposing aura about him. He carried a pipe in one hand, yet a sunflower in the other. How strange that darkness is often accompanied with light. And light was one thing she hadn't seen in a long time. His scarf flowed, his coat billowed behind him, and he looked as if he was certainly going to murder her before Mongolia did. But then recognition flashed in his painfully beautiful purple eyes.

"China?" He asked, in a surprised voice.

"Not exactly. I am..._Ancient _China. I am sorry... I didn't think...you'd...be here, Russia..." She finally slipped into unconsciousness, but not before Mongolia and two of his cohorts burst into the room, knocking the door down. The last thing she could remember was Russia whirling his pipe, engaging him in combat, protecting her. Why was he protecting her?

And then the world went black.

She was running yet again, but this time in a red world. There was no ground, and the air itself seemed to be solid. She was being tossed this way and that by swirling masses, but she still had to keep on running. Mongolia was right behind her, and his arrows were flying nonstop. There was a soft purple light ahead, and as she got nearer, she could see that it was emanating from a tall, imposing man with a scarf around his neck. His smile touched her heart because of its gentle warmness, yet it was underlayed with a touch of sadness. He held a pipe in his hand, but no sunflower in the other. He seemed to draw her in, and by the time she realized that he might kill her, they were only a few feet apart. She stopped in her tracks, and started to back away, as Mongolia seemed to disappear...

But the man surprised her. He walked the last few feet between them, and hugged her with his empty hand. She felt safe with him, and he held her close and whispered words in her ear.

But she could not hear them.

She fought to listen, to make sense of what he was trying to convey. She tried turning around to look at his lips, read them, but he held her firmly. Too late, she realized, she was already waking.

She flew up out of his arms, and was carried upwards through the now purple sky. She reached for him, and he reached for her also. She wanted to return to him, to return to safety. She cried out to him, and he responded with words she could still not hear. The meaning of it was clear, though.

She would meet him again.

At this, she relaxed. She let the winds carry her upwards, through the fluffy purple clouds and into space, where she finally woke up.

**There it is! The first chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to continue, if I get good feedback on this first chapter. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Again, Hetalia is not mine.**

Ancient China found herself in a queen-sized bed. A clean one, which she hadn't been in since she was captured. Instead of her shredded old dress, she found herself in bedclothes that looked like they were made for somebody with way more cleavage than she had. Someone had patched up her wounds. The window was open, letting in a slight breeze, which rustled the tree branches outside her second floor room. There was a small bathroom opposite another door that Ancient China guessed led to the hallway. She looked around to find a set of clothes folded neatly for her, and she quickly put them on. However, the long-sleeved shirt and pants were much too big, and looked like they were men's clothing. They also smelled of vodka, cinnamon, and sunflower oil. They smelled like Russia...

...Oh.

She was in Russia's house now. She was free!

Ancient China let out a cry of joy out the window. She felt happier than she had been, free as a bird, yet protected by the sky. Because she knew that with Russia, she would be safe. Wait... what...?

Who was she kidding? Russia was a ruthless killer with childlike cruelty. He had slain many, and tortured at least a hundred times as many people. The nation showed no mercy, and had no feelings. So why did she feel safe?

And then she remembered her dream.

And at that exact moment, Russia walked into the room smiling that exact same smile that he had in the dream. Ancient China felt her heart melt all over again.

He had an apron with a cute bunny on, and the open door let the wonderful smells of food from somewhere downstairs. Ancient China turned around to look at him, suddenly conscious of the bandages wrapped all around her beaten body.

"доброе утро, China! Time for breakfast. You look good in those clothes. They're a little big for you, but they were the smallest I could find."

"Oh...kay. Thanks...?" She didn't know what to say besides that. And then, she asked:

"Are any other nations here, Mr. Russia? I mean, besides me and you?" The Baltics and his sisters would always hang around his house.

"нет. It's just you and me. We'll have fun together, да?" Russia looked at her sweetly, which sent shivers down her spine. Whether they were of fear or excitement, Ancient China did not know. And then she realized...

Russia had undressed her, bandaged her, then put on the nightclothes for her while she was out. She felt an instant blush creep onto her cheeks, yelped, and looked away. Thank god he didn't take advantage of her; or she would have been able to feel it.

The other nation seemed unfazed by her reaction. He simply stated:

"I'll see you downstairs, да?" He then walked down the stairs to the kitchen, making hardly any sound for someone as big as him.

Ancient China just stood there for a while, and then proceeded to follow the mysterious man to breakfast.

The house seemed to have three floors, though it might have had a subterranean one. Every room was beautifully decorated. The second floor where her bedroom was located had four rooms. Two bedrooms, an office, and another room which was locked. Trying hard to be quiet, Ancient China peeked into each room in turn. The office was cluttered with papers, and there was a vase of vibrant yellow sunflowers perched precariously on the edge of the tall desk in the middle of the room. The other bedroom had superhero bedsheets, a huge collection of videogames, and an even bigger collection of movies. There was a faint smell of grease and hamburgers lingering in the air. It was quite obvious who was staying in this room. But why would he be here?

The first floor had a giant kitchen that connected to a dining room, and then a living room. The isolation room that she had stumbled upon when she was trying to escape was also on this floor, and was connected to a room with various computers showing different parts of the house, though there were no feeds of bedrooms. Ancient China caught a glimpse of all of these rooms on her way to the kitchen.

She never saw the third floor.

Russia had his back turned to her as she entered, and was flipping an omelette over. He still had his scarf on, but then again he always had it on.

"早晨好, Mr. Russia." Although she had been around for longer and had a more complex history, Ancient China still felt compelled to address him formally.

"Hello, China." He replied. Russia seemed to have finished making the omelettes, and asked her,

"What would you like to drink?"

"Tea, please," she replied.

"Okay."

Russia then set about making tea. He then brought the food to the table, and they sat down and started to eat. The omelettes were

wonderful. Russia seemed to be drinking coffee (with some vodka added). Ancient China took a sip of the tea. She suddenly put the cup down, her hand shaking.

"W-Where did you get this tea, Mr. Russia?" she asked, her voice tinged with surprise.

"Hmm..." The nation seemed to be somewhat surprised by her reaction. "Oh! It was a box Yao left behind when he was at my house one day. I thought you would like it. It was his favorite."

"Yao? You know Yao? Is he okay? Is he doing well? How is Kiku? Are they okay?" Ancient China was staring intently at Russia with eyes wide with anticipation.

Russia chuckled. "Yes, they are okay. You sound like a worried mother." He then giggled and smiled his cute smile.

"Actually, I'm a worried sister. Can I see them? When?"

Russia seemed somewhat surprised, but hid it well. "Yes, you can see them. Actually, I'll take you to see them now. We need to leave for the World Meeting. That is, if your wounds are okay."

"I am. Let's go." Completely disregarding her clothing, she followed Russia out the front door and into his car.

On the way there, Russia explained to Ancient China how it was being held in China, and that all of the countries were going to be there. He told her to stay discreet and lie low, as the world might fall into disorder learning about yet another "dead" nation still having a personification, like Prussia. Moreover, she was an Ancient, like Rome and The Ottoman Empire, and none of them had been known to have survived. That is, until her.

Before the conversation was even over, they arrived at the meeting place. Ancient China stepped out of the car, and relished in the sight of her land, her body, her soul. Then, she was dragged by Russia into the building.

She stood in front of the door to the conference room, feeling very nervous. All of a sudden, she asked Russia:

"Is Mongolia going to be there?"

"да. But I'll protect you. No worries." He looked down at her and smiled. He offered his hand to her, and she swore she could hear metal screeching against metal somewhere in his coat. Despite that, Ancient China smiled back at him and took his gloved hand.

Hand in hand, they walked into the room.


	3. Chapter 3

They were greeted with chaos. It was a world meeting, after all. Groups of nations fought and bickered amongst themselves, yet only half of them appeared to be present at the moment. Because of this, no one noticed them as they made their way over to Russia's seat.

"You can sit in my lap, if you want to. Or else you can sit in Yao's chair." Russia smiled at Ancient China, inviting her to choose.

"I-I think I'll just sit in Yao's chair," Ancient China meekly responded. She settled down in her younger brother's chair, right next to Russia. It was labeled "中国", yet China himself had yet to show up.

Ancient China felt her head start to buzz and her eyes start to droop. She was extremely tired. More and more countries trickled in, and the chaos seemed to expand until it finally exploded, as a loud voice called out:

"WILL EVERYONE CALM DOWN, ARU!"

All pairs of eyes were now fixated on the man that had just stepped in the doorway, followed by another. The first man had long black hair tied back into a ponytail. He carried a stack of papers in one hand, and wore green military garb. The second man also had black hair, but it was cut short. His eyes were flat and expressionless, and he wore a white uniform.

The first man stormed in, with the second following stoically. Ancient China had finally succumbed to her fatigue, and was asleep with her head on the table. He stormed over to the chair she was in. Russia tried to gently shake her awake, but she just drowsily muttered something before falling back to sleep again.

"Who are you and why are you in my seat, aru?" The man yelled. He appeared to be in an extremely bad mood.

This woke her up with a jolt, and Ancient China warily turned around in the seat to find China and Japan staring at her. Her eyes widened, and before she could say anything-

"姐姐!" China had launched himself at her, pulling Ancient China into a bear hug, while almost tipping the chair back onto the floor.

"Yao..." she whispered into his ear. "弟弟..."

"Aiyah! I missed you so much, aur!" He pulled back a little to look at her. "How did you escape from Mongolia?"

"We'll talk about that later, да?" Russia stated. China shot him a funny glance, but didn't say anything.

"お姉ちゃん..." Japan was standing in the back, feeling kind of left out.

"You come here too, Kiku." Ancient China beckoned her other little brother over and pulled both of them into a massive bear hug with China and her crying with joy as Japan smiled, content.

The rest of the room was awkwardly silent as they watched the ancient family reunite.

And then Mongolia burst into the room.

Ancient China shoved her brothers off of her and stood, ready to fight or run.

But Russia was there.

He pulled out his pipe and took a defensive stance in front of her. Not knowing anything, the rest of the room just continued staring.

"You will leave now, да? Kolkolkolkolkol..." A purple aura seemed to emanate from him, scaring off the nations surrounding him, creating an empty circle.

Ancient China, however, was drawn to it.

Because it was the same one in her dream.

Mongolia seemed to glow red with anger.

The same red she was running from.

"You took her away from me!"

"No, she came to me for protection. To escape you."

"She was perfectly safe with me!"

"No, she wasn't. You abused her. I have seen what you did. She has suffered because of you. How could she be safe with you?"

Mongolia seemed to snap, and shot an arrow from some bow he seemingly pulled out from nowhere at Russia.

He easily deflected it with his pipe back at him.

Mongolia just had time to dodge as the arrow went straight into the wall where his head had been half a second ago. He tried shooting another one, but Russia, with graceful ease, deflected it again. This time it hit Mongolia in his shoulder, which started gushing blood.

And then he ran. Out of the room, into his car, and out of the city.

The whole room was still awkwardly silent, but then-

"That was soo cool, dude!" A certain obnoxious American yelled out.

And then everyone was asking questions.

"What was that?"

"Who are you exactly?"

"Meow?"

"Madame...will you spend the night with me?"

Ancient China started feeling claustrophobic, but Russia started making "Kolkolkolkol..." sounds again, and the nations warily backed off, giving her more breathing room.

She could hear countries whispering "Creepy..." behind his back. Ancient China knew he only pretended to like it to keep his profile. In reality, it hurt him really badly. She could almost hear Russia crying inside, but he put up with it because he was trying to protect her privacy. Why was he protecting her still?

So, Ancient China walked up right behind Russia.

And hugged him.

The whispering stopped, and the countries fell silent again.

Everyone was staring at them, but Ancient China would not let go of Russia. She just squeezed him tighter. He had protected her. Now she wanted to protect him instead.

Russia just stood there for a moment. He seemed shocked and confused. No one, not even his sisters, had ever hugged him so protectively. Everyone was scared of him; everyone thought he was creepy. So why...?

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For protecting me."

I'm so sorry it's so short...I've been learning a dance for a national dance competition in Vegas. They expected me to cram a year's worth of stuff into a month...but we got second! Apparently they didn't have enough people.

Oh, and I'm sorry I suck at dialogue... I'm a social introvert.


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of the room finally snapped under the tension and bombarded them with question. Ancient China and Russia just stood there, dazed. They let go of each other, suddenly self-conscious of themselves, and stepped back from each other.

This time it was China.

"WILL EVERYONE SHUT UP, ARU!"

And everyone did, except for-

"Who the heck are you?" It was the American, of course.

Ancient China looked to Russia, China, and Japan for permission to proceed before saying:

"I am Ancient China."

At this, the room simply exploded. Nations stormed across the room, on the table,under chairs, and over otjer nations just to get to her, yet when they reached her, they did not get within a ten feet radius of her, like they were scared of her or something.

"How do we know that you're not, like totally lying to us?"

"I need proof to believe this."

"My dear Angleterre, you can't ask for proof if you have none that fairies exist."

"SHUT UP, YOU BLOODY FROG!"

"Do you want some pasta? Ve~"

"We still need confirmation, though. How about- CHIGI!"

"Aww, Romano, you're so cute..."

"S-Shut up, bastard!"

At this, everyone surged forward. though before even Russia could reach her, Ancient China had leaped over the crowd, and into the closest corner. She pressed her neck against the ceiling, and using pure strength, pushed against the walls and just stayed there in the top corner of the room. This way, no one could reach her except for Russia and Sweden, and neither of them made a move to get her down. They probably wouldn't have been able to anyways. America did come close to knocking down the wall before China yelled at him. All the countries just stood there under her, staring and yelling.

"How the fuck do you do that, dude?" The American was the first to speak again, obviously not getting the importance of her being alive.

"Isn't it obvious? She's an Ancient," Estonia stated, scanning his computer screen. "All of them have some superpower."

"Superpowers? We can be hero buddies then! My powers are eating hamburgers and being the hero. What're yours?"

"Er... sharpened senses and super strength..."

"Cool! You'd make a great heroine. Wanna be mine?"

"For the millionth time, it's 'want to', now 'wanna'. And why do you guys have superpowers?"

"Well, you know how you guys have different levels of strength, brains, and other stuff based on the amount of power you each have?" The room nodded in approval. "Well, there were only a few of us, so we would naturally get more land and stuff, which makes us more powerful."

"Huh? I don't get it. But do you still _want to_ be my heroine?" America grinned at her, while glaring at England from the corner of his eye.

"No, I don't think she wants to, да?"

"Not really..." Ancient China looked down.

"Awww..." America whined.

"Wait-but aren't all the Ancients dead?"

"How old are you?"

The questions started flowing yet again. Fortunately, the Englishman had some sense-

"SHUT YOUR TRAPS AND LET HER SPEAK! For god's sake, she's older than all of us here."

The room fell silent.

Ancient China leapt down from where she was perched in the ceiling, and landed next to her brothers and Russia, who had stayed amazingly quiet throughout. "Well...I'm five thousand years old..." she whispered.

"That's even older than old man China!"

"Of course, you American git. How dense are you?"

Ancient China continued. "As for the rest of the Ancients...well...they're technically still alive, just not enough to have a human form. Most of the time. If their culture is strong, then they will. Like me. Or Prussia, for example-"

"I'M AWESOME!"

"Be quiet, bruder."

"Aw... West...you know you love me..."

"-though he's not exactly an Ancient. And Mr. Germany, the only reason he's still here is because of you. Anyways, as I was saying, sometimes 'dead' countries come back to life in human form, even if it is only just for a short while. Like Rome-he visited you once, right Mr. Germany?"

Germany was busy trying to pry his brother off of him. "Uh...yeah..."

"Why didn't you tell me about that, Ludwig?" Italy looked somewhat betrayed, though he would get over it soon, like he always did with his carefree personality.

"Well, you wouldn't wake up, even though he was right next to you..."

Italy seemed to take that as an acceptable response. "Oh...how about Holy Rome, then?"

Ancient China was moderately surprised. She had thought Italy had forgotten about him. "He's alive and well. Actually, he's here in this room, and nobody knows, not even himself."

Everyone looked around, trying to find the small empire. Some of the wiser nations had already figured it out beforehand and were all looking at a certain blonde.

Ancient China spotted Italy looking around frantically. She caught his eye and then guided his gaze to Germany. Italy's eyes widened with realization, and he just stood there in shock.

Germany turned to him. "Are you okay, Italy?" he asked. "Is there anything wrong?" He was not used to seeing Italy with his eyes open.

Italy came to his senses and launched himself at Germany, pulling him into a hug. "Nothing..." He started to cry tears of happiness.

Now Germany was really worried. Sure, Italy cried all the time, but never without provocation. He pulled Italy off of him and looked at him. "Tell me, Italy.. What is wrong?"

"I just realized...all along... No wonder you seem so alike..."

"What? Feliciano, what?" Germany was near hysterical at this point.

"I love you."

And then, Italy kissed Germany.

The German blushed and flinched, but Italy was relentless. Finally, he melted into it.

When they broke apart, the pair found the whole room staring at them. Then, America started pushing a very happy Italian and a flustered out of the room, saying:

"Why don't you two go get yourselves a nice room." He then started giggling, and pushed them out of the room and closing the door before he broke down, laughing uncontrollably on the floor while clutching at his stomach. A few of the nations nervously followed suit, feeling extremely awkward.

"I guess West finally figured that out!" Prussia noted, while inching ever so slightly towards a guy who looked almost like America, but was semi-transparent for some reason.

Hungary suddenly rushed out of the room, muttering something about secret cameras and a collection of some sort. The rest of the nations started whispering, then talking, and then yelling at each other.

Russia moved back beside her from where he was pushed by the crowd, and pulled her, along with China and Japan, to the side of the room. "Do you want to go to my place so we can talk about all this?"

"Sure." Everyone agreed.

So, with her brothers practically sticking to her, Ancient China followed Russia out of the once again chaotic room.

**I'm sorry for all the OCness...but yeah. I've been stranded without internet for four days. I know right? It's so horrible *sarcastic.*, so I'm sorry for all the late updates.**


	5. Chapter 5

"So, what happened, aru?

Russia, Ancient China, Japan, and China were sitting in the giant living room of Russia's house. Ancient China was sprawled on the largest couch, with China and Japan next to her. Russia was sitting on a smaller one, opposite from them.

"Shart from the beginning. From when you were taken by...him."

"A-Ah. Okay."

~A.D. 1206~

"姐姐!"

"What is it, Yao?"

"The guards say a bad man is coming!"

"What?" Ancient China looked around the garden, but seeing nor hearing any signs of danger besides a few servants,, patted her little brother on the head. "Are you playing one of you silly games again?"

"No! 姐姐, we have to run to the safe room!"

"Right..." Ancient China rolled her eyes as she let China drag her through the massive palace. It took them a whole five minutes to jog through the back half alone.

They were almost at the "safe building" near the kitchen underground when-

"ARGHH!" A scream tore through the air. Ancient China could tell that it was Song, a guard that was positioned at the kitchen entrance.

"WHERE IS SHE?" A strong voice demanded. A voice that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

"I-I don't know."

"YES YOU DO! I"LL MAKE YO TELL ME!"

"I won't."

"Fine then. Have it your way."

There was a pause.

Another scream ripped across the silence. Ancient China then realized that she could no longer hear the man's heartbeat.

She also heard footsteps rushing towards where she was.

Too late, she realized that the danger was real.

Yao had been hiding behind her all this time, frozen with fear, burying his face in her lower back. She picked him up to look directly in his watering eyes.

"Listen carefully, Yao. Go hide/ Run away. No matter what happens, don't come back unless I tell you to.. When this is all over, tell Kiku what happened." She smiled sadly at him, and set the young nation down.

"Go."

And so he did, as quick as a hare, into the safe room.

While behind her, a voice purred,

"Well, look what we have here."

Ancient China lashed out at him with a flying kick. It connected, but he was ready for her. He took out his bow and started shooting at her. Ancient China dodge the majority of them, but Mongolia was also an excellent archer. He managed to hit her once in the arm.

The arrowhead didn't go deep, but since her muscles were flexed, it did more damage to Ancient China than it should have. Pulling the arrow out quickly with her other hand, she ran to attack the man again. but then, he took out something that made her stop in her tracks.

It was a huge firecracker.

Ancient China had played with the small ones with her brothers before, but she knew that one this big would be able to blast through stone, destroying whatever it was thrown at, and killing anyone who just happened to be in the way...

But Ancient China was not afraid for her life.

Because Mongolia was throwing it at the entrance to the safe room, where Yao was, probably crying right now.

"STOP!"

Mongolia turned towards her.

"Fine Take me. Just promise not to hurt Yao and Kiku."

She heard laughing, and she closed her eyes, preparing herself for what she knew was going to come.

And then something hit her on the side of the head as the world spiraled into blackness.

Ancient China awoke to find herself in what looked like a blank white room. It had absolutely nothing besides the small bed she was lying on and a flap in the wall. She got up and walked over to the flap, but it was made out of some weird substance that even she could not break, even with her powers, and it only seemed to open one way: in. It was too low for her to see through. Ancient China tried punching the walls, but they were made of the same substance as the flap. And then, she noticed a vent in the top corner of the room, above the bed. This was probably where the air in her room was being let in and out, since without airflow she would not be able to breathe, and there were no windows to let that happen. It was also made out of the same mysterious substance. And then, Ancient China realized that she could hear absolutely nothing from outside the room. Her senses were being robbed from her.

Since she could do nothing, Ancient China just sat down on the bed and waited.

Just then, Mongolia burst into the room through some hidden door, closing it before Ancient .

"Are you enjoying your stay here so far?"

Ancient China didn't respond.

"Keeping quiet, huh? Well, you'll be screaming later." From behind his back, Mongolia pulled out a rope, and quickly tied it into a noose.

Ancient China maintained her silence.

Mongolia walked right over to her and slipped the rope over her neck. Ancient China didn't make a move, as she knew that struggling would only make it worse. She felt the rope tighten suddenly, cutting off her breath. As she raced towards the edge of unconsciousness, her air supply was suddenly returned to her, and she was pulled back to reality, sharp and clear. Just as she regained her strength, Mongolia tightened the rope again. She raced back to the blackness that was the only way she knew how to escape.

And then, he loosened it again. And tightened it. And loosened it. And tightened it.

The cruel cycle seemed never ending. Mongolia kept her on the verge of unconsciousness, but also on the edge of wakefulness. As she tried to fall into one or the other, he kept pushing her back onto that thin wall that separated the two. And she was getting tired of standing there. Ancient China felt her resolve crumbling, the wall crumbling beneath her. If it did, she would fall into a place that was neither awake nor asleep, alive or dead. And that was her worst nightmare. So, she hung on.

Just when she could feel the wall fracture beneath her, Mongolia finally let go. He slipped the rope off of her neck, and walked out.

And just before he walked out, he said:

"I'll be back."

Ancient China slumped on the bed and finally fell off the wall, into the welcome darkness.

The next day, Mongolia returned with a knife.

The day after that, he had his bow and arrows.

And the day after that, he had a spear.

Ancient China could remember every single thing he used against her: weapons, household items, words. And as technology improved, so did his ways of hurting her. Pictures, gassing, firearms, even small bombs. Eventually, the white room had been stained red after endless years of suffering. He never let her die, yet Ancient China never felt that she was ever alive. She was cracked, but not broken. Her only lifeline was the thought that her brothers were still alive out there. She could vaguely sense what they felt, what the world had become now. But she could not escape. She wanted to scream out to anybody, to ask them where she was, when it was, who she was, and why this was what it is.

And yet she never made a sound no matter how much pain she was in. She would never struggle, and would just endure the agony rained upon her, staying in one spot.

And she thought she would never get out.

But then one day, she saw her chance.

Mongolia walked into the room, this time with a sword. It was his second favorite weapon, after his bow and arrows. Ancient China looked at him with dead eyes that shielded the spark of her life from him behind the emptiness. He wasted no time walking over to her. And when he swung at her, for the very first time, she dodged. Taking advantage of his surprise, she jumped on top of him.

But when she jumped, Mongolia had somehow slashed the sword in an arc across her back, opening a wound that ran from her shoulder to her lower back that nearly tore her tattered, bloodstained green dress in half. It was not deep, but it was bleeding profusely. Even with her healing abilities, Ancient China knew that this would leave a scar. Almost blind with pain, she kicked the blade out of his hands and somehow caught it without cutting herself. And then, she did the only thing she could think of: she thrust the sword into Mongolia. It went into his stomach, but she knew he would survive. After all, he also had healing abilities like her. He just lay there, staring at the weapon embedded within his flesh as the red started spreading across his already red shirt, turning it dark crimson. Ancient China got up and opened the hidden door-Mongolia had left it unlocked. And before she left, she spoke the first words she had spoken for eight hundred years:

"再见."

And she made her way out of the small outpost Mongolia had set up near the border of Mongolia and Russia, and ran. As fast as she could.


End file.
